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Rep. Tim Quinn Indicates Repeal of Annexation Amendment Could Come

Utah House Representative, Tim Quinn

 

 

The Wasatch County town of Hideout ruffled some feathers earlier this month when it moved to begin annexing approximately 655-acres of land in Summit and Wasatch County. The legislation allowing for that move by Hideout is now under review by state lawmakers.

 

House Bill 359 was passed just before the close of the 2020 legislative session and paved the way for cities and towns across the state to annex unincorporated land, sometimes without consent from the affected counties.

 

The Hideout Town Council took advantage of this new legislation and voted on July 9 in favor of a resolution of intent to annex nearly 655 acres of land in Summit and Wasatch counties. The majority of the land sits south of S.R. 248 near Brown’s Canyon Road and is targeted for a commercial development project involving U.S. Sen.Mitt Romney’s son, Josh.

 

Tim Quinn represents Utah House District 54 -- which encompases the land in question -- and was the lone “no'' vote on the amendment to H.B. 359 that allowed for Hideout’s move. He says he voted “no” not because he necessarily foresaw what Hideout could potentially do, but because of what he saw as an infringement on private property rights.

 

“I don’t support the move by Hideout. If you look at the bill that allows them to do this, I was the only member of the House of Representatives that voted ‘no.’ I didn’t vote ‘no’ because I saw the potential of what Hideout could do with this particular property, I voted ‘no’ because I’m not a big fan of cities being able to almost at-will annex property into their city,” Rep. Quinn said. “I’m a big private property rights guy and I think that everybody ought to live with the zoning that they bought into. If I bought a piece of property and I know what my neighbors can or can’t do with their property and then all of a sudden that changes because it got annexed into the city, you’ve taken away and infringed on my private property rights. That’s a sword that cuts both ways and I’m just not a big fan of annexation.”

 

Quinn says he has been working with his fellow lawmakers to prepare a repeal of the amendment in question. Quinn says the repeal could be voted on in a special session of the Legislature in August.

 

“This portion that allowed Hideout to do what they were doing was an amendment to the bill, so, when I say that I’m trying to repeal it, it wouldn’t be the entire bill, it would just be this amended part of the bill.”

 

The original move by Hideout to approve a pre-annexation agreement came as a surprise to both Summit and Wasatch County. Quinn says repealing the amended legislation would provide for greater transparency and cooperation around similar moves in the future.

 

A town hall meeting in Hideout to discuss the proposed annexation is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. on Aug. 4 at the Retreat at Jordanelle Park. Hideout officials intend to present their plans for the land and Rep. Quinn as well as representatives from Park City and Summit and Wasatch County will be in attendance as well.

Sean Higgins covers all things Park City and is the Saturday Weekend Edition host at KPCW. Sean spent the first five years of his journalism career covering World Cup skiing for Ski Racing Media here in Utah and served as Senior Editor until January 2020. As Senior Editor, he managed the day-to-day news section of skiracing.com, as well as produced and hosted Ski Racing’s weekly podcast. During his tenure with Ski Racing Media, he was also a field reporter for NBC Sports, covering events in Europe.
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